#richard cameron defender

[all4horsemen]

okay time to talk about Cameron

the poetrustic scene

first, let's look at the shot composition and consider the context of this scene. Cameron comments, lighthearted, "I love the clarinet!"

only to be met with Charlie's jab, "I hated it!"

when watching the full film, there is a noticeable shift following this scene. before, Cameron is constantly involved in scenes, jokes, meetings, etc. following, he gradually fades out, and in the deleted scene he's even missing from the meeting following Neil's play.

notice, in the composition, all 6 other poets are seated in a circle with one another, while Cameron sits above. I can see three ways to interpret this, which are not entirely exclusive.

one is that Cameron sits himself higher than the others as a way to feel better about himself, that he is important. that he is important enough to sit up higher.

the second is that Cameron sits himself up higher because he believes he is genuinely better than the others in some way. this one feels least likely based on other characterization, but I still have to give it some space.

third is that he has been effectively shelved by the others. he doesn't exactly fit in, and they don't exactly have the space for him. maybe they don't even think to make space for him. this is not a jab at the others, I love all the poets, but it is very easy at 16-17 to exclude the people you find weird or unpleasant without meaning to.

I personally believe it's a combination of 1 & 3.

next, I'd like to examine the following shot.

this is the expression Cameron makes as everyone else laughs along with Charlie. he looks around, and everyone is laughing, seemingly at him. notably, he seems to first look in Neil's direction, but that can't be fully confirmed here.

he feels isolated, alienated. he has tried at every turn to be part of this group, and all his attempts are (at best) laughed at, and (at worse) made fun of by Charlie, his own roommate.

he feels rejected in this scene.

he has been rejected in this scene.

this is when he realizes they don't have space for him, and that showing up so often and joining in isn't worth the trouble. not worth the risk.

thank you for coming to my ted talk <3

[rywritess]

lets bring out the misunderstood, morally grey, suck-up, academically focused redheads with a need for validation from authority and hated by the fandom!! >0<

i want to kiss them

[deadgaytragedies]

being a cameron stan kinda sucks because what do you mean i have to make my own icons of him cause there's barely any on pinterest 😒

[giolovesyousm]

peak of comedy when keating was encouraging the boys to rip the introduction by J. eVans pRitChaRd PhD, and said "it's not the bible you're not going to hell for this" and cameron silently replied "I might"

[charles-simmons-fanfiction]

I have weird feelings about Cameron, because as an outsider, I understand his side and know he was just a boy who was grieving too and didn’t want his and his friend's lives to get even worse.

But if he was a real life person, I would despise him until the day I die.

[cimacally]

Quick dead poets headcanons without context pt. 8

What type of psychical affection would make them melt?

Neil - booping his nose, for whatever reason

Todd - kissing his cheek

Charlie - deep eye contact (not rlly psychical but shh)

Cameron - touching/brushing his hair

Meeks - wrapping an arm around their shoulders whenever possible

Pitts - pinkies interlocked everywhere

Knox - quick, sweet hugs

Stick - patting his cheek

[meekspeaks]

cameron defenders listen UP !!

rb if you're a cameron defender, and in the tags, please do tell me why you have chosen this way of life. i simply cannot understand it, and i release this post into the wild of the dps fandom to hopefully gain sweet, sweet knowledge.

[i-cant-think-of-anything-to-say]

I pick a character with little to no redeeming qualities and defend them like my life depends on it

because, like, what if they didn't mean it like that? what if they were just kinda sad?

[all4horsemen]

please understand that if I EVER see another blog defending my son, you are now my brother in arms

Cameron defenders we must lock in

[wordssricochet]

you could NEVER love richard cameron more than me

guys.. if you still hate cameron after reading the book, you can't be fixed😞❤️‍🩹

also book cameron > book knox, movie knox > movie cameron

[greenienewt]

LEAVE HIM ALONE 😭

[ghostthewriter09]

aroace Cameron

I’m back on my cam defender stuff so….

Cameron is 100% aroace. There is very obvious evidence for this in my mind. All the other boys seem to have a love interest. So he’s surrounded by romance. And still, he is never shown having any chemistry with anyone. He is a pretty closed off person which often means someone is hiding something. Aroace guilt is very real, meaning Cam has probably never told anyone he has never been in a relationship or had a crush. Another thing about being aroace is a feeling of needing to be someone else. You feel like you don’t fit in with others cause you’ve never liked anyone so you overcompensate. We see cam doing this all throughout the movie. With his friends, his teachers, academically. If he can’t be good for romance, maybe he can be good for his friends. If he can’t be good for either, all he has is school. So when he tells Nolan, all that guilt and shame has built up to that moment.

also, completely off topic, most of the people in this movie are teenagers. They all act dumb at some point. They all make mistakes. I’m tired of everyone just trashing on Cam. All the other poets have made mistakes too. And guess what, his mistake made sense for his character. If you keep pressuring yourself, you’re going to crack.

[desire-mona]

goodness gracious

i am a little high so please forgive me. but what a cutie pie cameron im so sorry so many things happened to u

[wordssricochet]

thank you fir the picture, op, I LOVE RICHARD CAMERON

can we all agree that me and cameron are married

can't believe they let richard cameron out in society looking like that you might as well put a sign on his that says "fall in love with me i dare you"

[planetscobell]

i'm a richard cameron defender. yes, i do have a bit of a love-hate relationship with him BUT i still don't wanna see any cameron hate. so, please, hear me out! (please don't flame me for this guys, this is just my opinion.)

i feel like cameron may have felt like the outcast of the group, like he wasn't accepted the majority of the time (and you can clearly see it throughout the whole film). in the scene when neil, charlie, meeks, and knox are talking about starting their study group, neil says "sure, cameron asked me too. anyone mind including him?" to which charlie responds with "what's his specialty, boot licking?" and neil says "he's your roommate" and charlie once again responds with "that's not my fault." there, it's very obvious that charlie doesn't like cameron and because charlie was obviously the "coolest" one of all the poets and "the guy everyone wants to be" cameron probably wanted to be liked by him the most, especially since they were also roommates. (i also think cameron may have some form of trauma. it's not stated in the movie, but just the way his character holds himself and acts, like with his school work and taking on so much and perfecting it, makes me personally feel that way-- maybe he feels the need to be perfect since he was left at welton at a young age and wants to be perfect for his family to love him. idk.). 

this leads me to my next point being probably why cameron finked. first off, i feel like cameron finked because he trusted/believed the school (aka nolan and his LIES) so much and because of that he probably thought by telling nolan everything he would actually save the poets (also meaning they would maybe finally like him and accept him in the group). when he said "if the rest of you are smart you'll do exactly what i did-- you can't save keating, but you can save yourselves" i do think cameron had the best intentions for him and te poets here (and i'm not saying i agree with him finking, i just simply see why he did and i wish he stood his ground and went a different way about it). i dunno if this part makes much sense.

anyway, secondly, cameron had no control over being pulled by nolan and he also didn't get the talk like the rest of the poets did on what to and what not to say to nolan. when they had that meeting i'm 99% sure cameron had the intention of going but he was probably pulled right as or before the meeting started (i also think cameron was probably pulled first because nolan knew he would crack easily). again, i'm 99% sure if cameron was able to attend the meeting and knew what to do he wouldn't have finked. that may just be me though. anyway, i do get why a lot of people dislike him, but i feel like people are way too harsh on him and hate on him way too much. i hope i'm not the only one who feels this way. i feel like that boy may have gone through and dealt with more stuff than we actually realize. 

[oraclefreak]

I'm not going to lie; I do hate on Richard Cameron. It's a classic in the DPS fandom. But when you start looking a little bit more into his character, there is something that tells you you can't just hate this kid.

The way Cameron was always excluded by Charlie, and the Dead Poets would laugh because he would say funny jokes at Cameron's questions and comments. Even if Cameron was Neil's friend, that was mostly outside the group. He truly was the one that didn't fit between the Poets, and the reason he even got to be in the meetings was because of Neil Perry.

Neil connected the Dead Poets Society. One wouldn't think to make meetings with a really chaotic dude who hates a really stuck to rules guy, and that last guy in question being invited too. But the meetings weren't even terrible, Charlie threw some comments about Cameron and viceversa here and there.

Charlie punched Cameron after Neil's death, which is something completely different than a funny remark.

I've talked about Charlie and Neil's friendship, which was a lot more portrayed than what we can see of Neil and Cameron's. Charlie's grief has to do with the fact that Neil couldn't be an actor because of Mr. Perry. Cameron's grief has to do with the fact that Neil is never coming back, and there has to be a guilty one.

Cameron doesn't only think of Mr. Keating as the culprit because of the authorities, but also because he wasn't very fond of his form of teaching in the first place (for example, Cameron asked to the Poets if he would test them on something, and Charlie responding that he didn't get it). And that's another thing they don't have in common; Charlie adores Mr. Keating, Cameron does not seem to be very fond of him.

Taking these into account, Cameron's grief, along with disliking Mr. Keating, and also that he doesn't have the ability like the other Poets to just question authority--he snitches on everyone.

And that was... terrible of him, we know that. But Charlie quite literally made the Poets known before he even snitched. And that isn't talked about in the fandom. Like, yeah, I adore Charlie and I think he's amazing and bla bla, but the double standards kinda hit on this one.

Unpopular opinion much? Probably. I am not defending Cameron's actions by any means, but let's not forget these are 17 year-old boys. And Cameron had to deal with Neil's death in his own way. As I said, he didn't question authority or rebel against it like the others; Cameron wasn't a poet, but he was in the Dead Poets Society.

I am also NOT hating on Charlie. I hope my wording isn't terrible. I love all of the Poets (there might be favorites though(

I think I should elaborate on this at a much more decent hour (it is currently 3am). Please don't leave me hate comments while I sleep, I prefer to read them with my eyes open...

[Youtuber voice] Like and suscribe if you want me to do a part 2 video of this!!!